116 entries categorized "Towns | Ghent"

January 12, 2016

Agency denies release of funds due to failure to follow grant requirements

A $516,000 Federal grant for the expansion of Ginsberg’s Foods in Ghent has been rescinded by the State, due to the company and Columbia County’s failure to follow strict procedures set forth in the grant requirements.

According to a news release from the community group GhentCAN, which obtained a letter documenting the State’s decision, the final approval of funding was denied on January 11th. The main reason given was a regulation which prevents grantees from beginning construction prior to final approval and release of the funds.

The letter from the Vice President of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, which can be downloaded as a PDF via this link, states firmly that “the Request for Release of Funds cannot be approved [due to] the transfer of the property to the business and construction starting at the site… The consequence of [these actions] is that the Federal HUD funding cannot be used for the ‘project.’”

Furthermore, the transfer of land from the County to Ginsberg’s was also apparently performed prematurely—both action leaving the State no choice but to cancel the grant under its rules.

The findings by the State indciate that evidence of premature construction was found on the website of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, or CEDC, which was involved with obtaining the grant funding and approved transfer of 33 acres to Ginsberg’s for just $1. (The value of the land has been estimated at roughly $275,000.) The State letter indicates it also performed site visits and obtained information from local residents.

The relevant State regulations are apparently both clear and strict, leaving the State no choice but to cancel the grant.

Numerous residents driving past the expansion site off Route 66 had noticed in November and December that work was underway at the site, without realizing that it was in violation of the grant regulations. According to GhentCAN, residents noted excavation activity, including the “removal of dirt and gravel from the site”; the creation of “an access road”; and the presence of “various construction companies and personnel.”

Trucks belonging to the Colarusso company were noted by some passersby, which was of note as the company’s president has been a longtime CEDC member who voted in favor of benefits for the project. Colarusso’s name no longer appears on the CEDC board roster as of its December minutes.

GhenCAN also noted that Columbia County appeared to be well aware of these rules, having signed an October 20, 2015 certification agreeing that“no physical alteration to individual sites can occur nor can funds for those activities be committed or expended until receipt of an environmental clearance letter.”

November 19, 2015

On Thursday, local Republicans sought once again to disenfranchise absentee voters—this time in Ghent. In doing so, the GOP not only tried to revive failed legal arguments of the past, they also raised doubts about their basic sense of decorum.

The days events make you wonder: Do County Republicans need a few cases of gingko biloba to help with their memory problem? And: Does Republican Election Commissioner Jason Nastke need a refresher course in the basic obligations of public servants?

To review:

GOP Election Commissioner Jason Nastke, hamming it up for a magazine profile in younger days

Back in 2010, the Columbia County Republicans were embarrassed in both the court of public opinion and in actual court. Their judicial smackdown came in Taghkanic, when County GOP chair Greg Fingar rehashed a long-settled legal question: Namely, whether people with more than one residence have the right to choose Columbia County as the one place they vote. (Answer: They do.) Well before 2010, courts had repeatedly said everyone can choose where they vote, as long as they have a dwelling there.

The 2010 attempt to re-litigate the matter did not go well for Fingar et al. And the GOP’s loss was doubly embarrassing, considering that the legal rebuke came from a Republican judge, Jonathan Nichols—complete with critical commentaries during the hearings about their attorney, James Walsh.

At that time, as reported by this site, Walsh was “admonished” for “misleadingly reading only a portion of an Election Law statute.” Nichols “twice stated that the Republican position was ‘completely unconvincing.’” And “Nichols expressed frustration that his repeated orders for the Republicans to produce specific objections to voters were repeatedly ignored... In many court observers’ view, the GOP operatives are fortunate not to have been found in contempt.”

Moreover, the hypocrisy of Fingar’s personal role in the failed 2010 disenfranchisment effort became an issue, as it was discovered that his family insurance company overtly solicits the home insurance accounts of second-home owners... The very people Fingar was trying to disenfranchise. In the wake of the election, some longtime Fingar policy-holders moved their accounts elsewhere.

Now, according to observers of today’s absentee vote count for two open Town Board seats in Ghent, the GOP is at it again—using the same lawyer, Mr. Walsh. Going into the count, Republican Pete Nelson and Democratic challenger Patti Matheney have leads over Republican Mark Huston and Democrat Koethi Zan, Matheney’s running mate. With well over 150 ballots to count, primarily from Democrats, there appeared a strong chance both Matheney and Zan could prevail—giving the Dems a majority on the five-member Ghent board, along with Mallory Mort.

Within minutes of the count beginning, the GOP’s strategy became clear, according to observers. The Republicans began challenging all ballots originating in New York City, claiming they were “not entitled to vote by absentee.” Citing no specific evidence, the attorneys nevertheless challenged the “qualifications of the voter” and the “veracity” of both the absentee application and the enclosing envelope. By 11 am, 15 such ballots had been set aside pending resolution of the challenges—more than enough to change the outcome of the election. By early afternoon, that number had climbed to nearly 30.

Adding to the absurdity of the proceedings was some stunningly unprofessional behavior from the GOP attorneys. An observer reported that they were “screaming” at one point; and when Dow was speaking about his understanding of election law as a former Commissioner, one of Walsh’s team actually started singing to attempt to drown out a Democratic lawyer.

GOP commissioner Jason Nastke—who reportedly was getting up constantly from the table to speak on the phone to an unknown party—did nothing to restrain this childish behavior. And Nastke dutifully upheld the GOP lawyers’ objections to these voters, even though no specifics were provided.

The Republican challengers failed to make any concrete allegations as to why each was not entitled to vote at their local residence, why they were unqualified, what was untruthful about the envelopes or ballots, etc., using the same boilerplate objections each time. Yet Nastke sustained their challenges anyway, without explaining his reasoning.

The one-sided nature of Nastke’s rulings was thrown into relief as the Republican appointee (and former Valatie mayor) unexpectedly reversed course on a single ballot, not sustaining the out-of-town lawyers challenge to a lone New York City Democrat’s vote. Why the different treatment, attendees wondered? Nastke did not provide any reason for changing course. But the application for that ballot stated that it was “carried” (delivered) to the voter by a member of the Colarusso clan—influential in GOP circles.

In other words: If it’s likely a vote for a Republican, it’s OK to vote absentee at your second home. But not if you’re likely voting Democratic.

Former Columbia County Democratic Election Commissioner and State Legislature attorney Ken Dow was representing Matheney and Zan, made clear his astonishment at the brazenness of the Republican disenfranchisement effort. Dow suggested that Nastke’s failure to rule in favor of the GOP without facts could be an abuse of his power as an Election Commissioner, to the extent that he was making decisions to disenfranchise voters without being presented with a shred of evidence.

In the end, it appears the whole fracas raised by the Republicans will be moot. The GOP team got up and left abruptly once it appeared the machine vote ballots will stand, regardless of the absentees they had challenged, with one Republican (Nelson) and one Democrat (Matheney) joining the Ghent Town Board.

The gang of attorneys—who appear to have modeled their behavior after boorish GOP election lawyer John Ciampoli, Walsh’s mentor—left without saying a word about the 29 votes they had challenged—which will in all likelihood be opened after sitting in limbo for three days, since the Republicans will not bother going to court as it would not change the outcome. Once the absentees are eventually opened, Zan will likely fall 7-8 votes short of displacing Nelson.

June 9, 2015

The public may want to bring some extra bags of popcorn to the County Board of Supervisors’ regular meeting on Wednesday at 7:30—where the ethics, transparency and other management issues dogging the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) are likely to come up.

Last month, the County’s separate economic development committee voted 5-0 to forward a resolution proposed by Hillsdale Supervisor Art Baer to the full Board, calling for an independent investigation into possible conflicts of interest during CEDC’s past five years of loans and grantmaking.

Prompted by a State report on conflicts of interest related to the Ginsberg’s Food proposal, as well as violations of open government laws, the investigation (if approved) would focus on only grants of $25,000 or more.

June 3, 2015

In five days, over 270 signatures have been gathered on an online petition calling for the Ghent planning board to appeal a judge’s ruling, which forces the Town’s Planning Board to issue permit to Ginsberg’s Foods.

The petition, which also calls for reforms of the County’s economic development agencies, can be read (and if so moved, signed) at this link.

The Board is slated to meet and discuss its options tonight at 7 pm at Ghent Town Hall.

UPDATE: Attorney Louise Roback has obtained and scanned the four decisions by Judge Koweek, which can be downloaded at the following links: ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR

May 29, 2015

A new online petition posted by GhentCann calls upon the Town’s planners to appeal this week’s ruling by Judge Richard Koweek, forcing the Planning Commission to reverse its denial of a permit to Ginsberg’s Foods.

The petition, which can be found here, can be signed by residents of both Ghent and the County, says GhentCANN’s Patti Matheney, to support “sound planning decisions in our County.” The 300,000 square-foot project also received large tax breaks from the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency.

May 26, 2015

According to an attorney who has seen the decisions, Columbia County Judge Richard Koweek “ruled in favor of Ginsberg’s on all four lawsuits” and has ordered the Ghent Planning Board to grant the company a special use permit.

As a rule, it is very rare in New York State for judges to overrule decisions by local agencies such as planning and zoning boards.

The decision is ironic in at least one respect: The State Authorities Budget Office decided not to delve deeper into the conflict of interest issues related to Ginsberg’s and the Columbia Economic Development Corporation, due to the denial by the Ghent Planning Board. The ABO said that the denial rendered such conflict questions moot:

No harm has yet arisen[emphasis added] from the board’s failure to follow its own policies since the Ginsberg Foods expansion project was not approved by the Ghent Planning Board. This may not always be the case with future projects.

December 12, 2014

More than one confidential source is whispering that having been denied necessary permits by the Ghent Planning Board, Ginsberg’s Foods is searching for a new location in Columbia County—and has been focusing on the Town of Greenport.

The company still might go through the motions of a court challenge to the recent Ghent Planning Board denial on the off-chance they still can’t find another location in another 12-18 months.

That’s the likely timeframe for obtaining a judicical ruling. But such a process is lengthly, costly, and by no means guaranteed to provide the company’s preferred outcome. Courts tend to give deference to agency rulings, and at best a judge might send the matter back for further review at the Town level... Meaning another 6-8 months after that, before having a marginal chance of maybe getting a more favorable decision. Even so, such a “victory” would likely result in a much different facility by the time more mitigations and changes were made.

Given that uncertainty, such sources indicate that Ginsberg’s has shown interest in another Columbia County town with much less zoning: The Town of Greenport, which requires minimal site plan approvals, but notoriously has no actual zoning code.

The location reportedly being scoped by Ginsberg’s is somewhere in the Route 9 corridor between Flanders and Buckley’s Corners, just southeast of Hudson. This stretch includes the former Holcim/St. Lawrence Cement headquarters, currently home to the company’s toadies at the Columbia Economic Development Corporation; the former Local Ocean facility, which seems to have been acquired by a waste management/scrap recycling firm with no obvious connection to growing fish in vats; and several very large agricultural parcels which have been on the market for nearly a decade.

This is strictly at the rumor phase at the moment, but the reports come from well-placed by disparate sources.

October 30, 2014

It’s cute when a young child fibs. Most kids are very bad fibbers, so there is little risk of them fooling anyone. Plus their motives are usually harmless, and their alibis often hilarious. (“Did you eat all the cookies, Billy?” —No, the goldfish did.)

Attorney Andrew Howard’s picture from his website

The same can’t be said of grown men, especially grown men being paid upwards of $150/hour out of public funds... So what’s the excuse of Andy Howard, the former County Attorney turned lawyer for the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC)?

At this week’s CEDC meeting, Howard told an obvious whopper. During Tuesday’s meeting, the topic came up once again of Hillsdale Supervisor Art Baer’s request for legal confirmation that CEDC’s $1 land deal with Ginsberg’s food was aboveboard—free of any conflict of interest.

Previously, CEDC (via Howard) had declined to issue the certification Baer requested, vaguely claiming that the request was too vague.

But this time, Howard took things a step further, grossly embellishing the nature of Baer’s written inquiry. This misleading colloquy sounds a lot like an attempt to gin up fake outrage among the CEDC’s elite membership, who in the past have expressed reluctance to comply with ethics disclosure, training and oversight.

CEDC Board member Scott Wood raised the matter of the “letter from Supervisor Baer asking us to review the legality of certain issues we had done. And we had discussed it on here with our counsel, and we believed that everything we had done was legal and in conformity.”

But though Wood felt CEDC had fully responded—an opinion shared by few outside observers— he expressed surprise that another Supervisor found the response “evasive,” and wondered what they could do to clear up the matter.

That’s when Wood turned things over to Howard, who says:

You received a general request for a legal opinion that everything this Board has done has been legal and ethical standards. Not specifically with Ginsberg’s, not specifically with anything… It seemed very ambiguous and vague.

In fact, Baer’s request was hardly general, and was not aimed at “everything” CEDC had ever done. Rather, it specifically and narrowly dealt just with the Ginsberg’s land transaction.

The subject line of Baer’s August email inquiry was:

Ginsberg Land Sale

The body of the message featured a formal request for “a legal opinion from CEDC counsel and/or the County Attorney that all ethic and legal guidelines have been followed in this proposed transaction” [emphasis added].

The purpose of the request was clear to CEDC executive director Ken Flood, who spelled it out just as explicitly in an early September memo to Howard (attached here). Flood noted that CEDC “has received a formal request for a legal opinion that all ethic [sic] and legal guidelines have been followed in the proposed land transaction between CEDC and Ginsberg’s” and sought Howard’s response.

And indeed, at that time it seemed Howard understood the narrowness of the request. Two days after Flood’s memo was sent, Howard himself referenced Baer’s specific request about “the proposed land transaction between CEDC and Ginsberg’s.” While refusing to provide the assurance sought by Baer, Howard then proceeds to discuss details of that deal—and no other CEDC business.

Does that mean I start and look at each and every one of your appointments, to see if you were legally appointed? Does that mean I go to Lisa and look at every one of the legal notices, since I was appointed?

“We should be done with this!” Bartolotta is heard to exclaim on Cusano’s recording, followed by a loud sigh. (Earlier, Bartolotta said of the County’s request for reimbursement of $109,950 paid for the land that “it just makes me crazy... It’s just ridiculous!”

Wood suggests that CEDC “should take the offensive… Maybe that is a strong word… Take the initiative… Relying on counsel’s affirmation that we have been doing things correctly.”

A voice which sounds like CEDC Board member Mike Vertetis derisively says that responding further won’t “quiet the chance to run off at the lip a bit in front of the paper.”

CEDC Board member Greg Fingar chimes in that Baer and [Ancram Supervisor Art] Bassin are “both retired,” so they should be able to attend meetings. Bartolotta demands to know whether the two are up for re-election next year, echoing an insinuation from a previous meeting by CEDC President David Crawford—and Ginsberg’s project engineer—that “this is all political.”

Perhaps more illuminating than Howard’s whopper is that the rest of the CEDC Board did not utter a word of correction, though Baer’s specific request has been widely reported and commented upon in the past few months.

October 19, 2014

In an email circulated to his Board colleagues last week, Ancram Supervisor Art Bassin called for the resignation of David Crawford, President of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC).

Crawford’s engineering and planning firm, Crawford & Associates, is handling permitting and engineering work for Ginsberg’s Foods’ proposal for a 300,000-square-foot facility in Ghent and Claverack, which has received substantial financial and marketing support from CEDC.

David Crawford

David Ginsberg preceded Crawford as President of CEDC, remaining on its Board (according to its minutes) until October 2013, well after the agency had decided to apply for $1.5 million in funding for the Ginsberg project. Ginsberg’s Food also has had a $400,000, 1%-interest loan from CEDC; the loans term overlapped the tenures of both Ginsberg and Crawford. Finally, CEDC has come under fire for voting to give 33 acres of land to Ginsberg’s for just $1.

Bassin’s email calling for Crawford’s resignation treats the controversy about the Ginsberg’s project as mostly a perception problem needing a cosmetic fix, writing that

The negative reactions to the Ginsberg project seem to be related to the apparent conflicts of interest associated with Mr. Ginsberg’s past role on the CEDC board, and Mr. Crawford's current role as both chair of the CEDC Board and president of the engineering firm advising Mr. Ginsberg on the project.

In this context, the proposal from CEDC to sell the 33 acres for $1 and the 1% $400,000 loan made years ago to Ginsberg's has triggered ethics and legal concerns, and has exposed the project to additional scrutiny.

Chairman Grattan’s letter suggesting CEDC repay the County for the $114,000 County cost of the 33 acres, and his decision to chair a special committee to review the relationship between the County and CEDC, are steps in the right direction, but do not go far enough to clear the air surrounding this project.

While CEDC Executive Director Ken Flood has claimed that Crawford stayed out of all votes and discussions about the Ginsberg’s project, the agency’s minutes suggest otherwise. Meanwhile, CEDC has rebuffed a written request from Hilldale Supervisor Art Baer that CEDC provide a legal opinion verifying that the $1 transaction meets ethical muster.

In addition to having Crawford resign, Bassin proposes two additional steps:

CEDC responds to Supervisor Bear’s [sic—Baer] request for an opinion letter stating the proposed sale of the 33 acres for $1 is consistent with NYS legal and ethical standards, and the ethical standards of the CEDC.

CEDC requests Mr. Ginsberg to pay the full fair market value of the 33 acres.

Opposition to the land deal and concern about an additional $660,000 property tax break pending before the County Industrial Development Agency has spread from neighbors, taxpayers, citizens organizations and independent news sites to the editorial boards of both of the County’s print newspapers, The Register-Star and Columbia Paper.

Opposition has also come from two neighboring farms, whose owners have apparently filed an Article 78 against the Ghent and Claverack Planning Boards.

As the issue has heated up, BOS chair Pat Grattan has called for the company to reimburse the County for its land purchase at the 1997 price of $109,950 (plus related costs), which would amount to only 40% of the land’s current appraised and assessed values. Another recent applicant to CEDC, a local farm, was required to borrow $50,000 for a piece of land nearly six times smaller than the Ginsberg’s plot, and pay 10% interest on the loan.

Members of the Ginsberg clan have told this site and other sources that they do not intend to pay for the land, harrumphing that opposition to the project will not diminish even if they do.

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors does not directly control CEDC. But several Supervisors serve as trustees, and the bulk of its funding comes from the County.

October 3, 2014

Food company has the largest of 50 agency loans—and pays the lowest interest rate

The picture of the extraordinary package of public assistance which Ginsberg’s Foods has garnered over the years keeps getting larger.

In addition to more than $2 million in new government incentives to expand, and a previous PILOT tax deal about to expire, the company is now in the final year of a $400,000 loan from Columbia Economic Development Corporation.

According to a CEDC loan table obtained by this site, that amount is the largest of 50 current loans to area businesses by the agency.

Ginsberg’s 1% interest rate also stands out as the lowest paid by any of the 50 current loanees listed on the chart, dated 30 September 2014. By contrast, more than half of the other loan recipients are paying between 7% and 8.5% interest. Only 5 of the 50 recipients pay less than 5% interest, with none paying less than 2% other than Ginsberg’s.

As noted here previously, the Albany Business Review pegged Ginsberg’s revenues at $142,000,000 in 2013, suggesting that there was no urgent need to charge the company much less interest than other recipients.

Moreover, half of CEDC’s other current loans are for $25,000 or less. The next largest loan after the $400,000 for Ginsberg’s is $284,000 to a Livingston dairy operation. The third largest is $150,000 to a food business in Ancramdale. Those businesses are paying 5% and 6% interest, respectively.

The 10-year term of the Ginsberg’s loan is also tied for second longest on the table. One other distribution business has a 15-year loan for $100,000. Three other businesses have a 10-year loan. More than three-quarters of the loanees have terms of 6 years or less.

The loan was initiated in 2005, and appears to partially overlap with the tenure of David Ginsberg as President of CEDC. Ginsberg stepped down from that post in 2010, but remained on the board of CEDC until shortly before the State approved a $1.5 million assistance package in late 2013.

The grant application and permitting for the project was initiated while Ginsberg was still serving on CEDC, along with the head of the engineering firm for the company’s expansion project in Ghent and Claverack.

The company has also requested a second Payment in Lieu of Tax plan from the County IDA. According to a report in The Register-Star, that new PILOT would save Ginsberg’s some $700,000 in local taxes, for example to the Taconic Hills School District. It is not known how much the previous PILOT netted the company in savings.

Both CEDC and the IDA share Ken Flood as their executive director. Flood was hired to fill those roles, as well as director of Columbia County Planning, when Ginsberg was still head of CEDC

October 1, 2014

The CEDC Board prepares to meet. Five chairs were provided for the audience in the room; the overflow of another 8-10 people had to try to listen from the nextdoor anteroom.

Recently-circulated minutes of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) inadvertantly expose the agency’s growing perception problem regarding conflicts-of-interest among its members and staff.

Scrutiny has focused on CEDC Board President David Crawford’s dual role as the principal of Crawford & Associates Engineering (which is the engineering firm for the Ginsberg’s Foods expansion project along the border of Ghent and Claverack), as well as former Board President David Ginsberg’s influence.

Approved at yesterday’s Board meeting, the minutes for its previous August 26th gathering quote Executive Director Kenneth J. Flood on the topic of Crawford’s participation on the Ginsberg $1.5 million grant and $1 land deal:

“Mr. Flood stated to the best of his knowledge, Mr. Crawford had not taken part in any discussion or vote regarding the Ginsberg’s project.”

However, the following pages of the same minutes document examples of Crawford participating in such discussions.

In a Board debate about the hiring of Behan Communications to assist with p.r. for the Ginsberg project and to improve CEDC’s image, the minutes state:

“Mr. Crawford gave the Ginsberg’s project as an example, noting the public relations had room for improvement.”

Earlier minutes also show Crawford on the record about Ginsberg’s during Board meetings. For example, CEDC’s June 2014 minutes state that

“Mr. Crawford noted that Ginsberg’s was well on their way to completion. He noted Behan could use Ginsberg’s as a CEDC accomplishment.”

Behan Communications, by the way, is also the p.r. company for TCI of NY, the PCB-processor whose Ghent facility exploded two summers ago, forcing County residents to stay inside for much of a summer day. Crawford’s engineering firm also likewise worked for TCI. Other Board members not directly connected to Ginsberg’s, such as former Independent publisher Tony Jones, have questioned the $10,000 retainer of Behan, which was intially greenlighted—reportedly by Flood and Crawford—without Board approval.

Later, the minutes’ account of a discussion of the conflict-of-interest question raised by Hillsdale Supervisor Art Baer again cites Crawford participating in a matter related to Ginsberg’s. Development czar Flood reported that

“Supervisor [Baer] had not backed down from his request for a formal legal opinion about the land transaction as well as a statement stating there was no conflict of interest by any Board member. Mr. Crawford stated this was all due to politics.”

Meeting in private, the minutes further state that the $1 sale to Ginsberg’s of 33 acres acquired by the County for $109,500 had been voted upon by the CEDC Executive Committee. After the meeting, this site was told by Board member Mary Bartolotta that the Executive Committee includes Crawford.

(Though it involves more than two members of a public body as defined in New York State Open Meetings Law, the Executive Committee does not provide notice of its meetings, and no minutes of its meetings are taken, according to a Board member speaking on condition of anonymity. As a result, there is no known record of whether Crawford participated in the above-mentioned Executive Committee discussion and vote.)

Ginsberg’s Food co-owner David Ginsberg was formerly the President of CEDC until 2010, remaining as a Board member until just two months before the application submitted by CEDC was approved by the Cuomo administration.

As also reported here, a source familiar with the process for hiring Ken Flood says that Ginsberg took the lead on the hiring process. At minimum, there appears to have been an overlap between the last year of his Board Presidency and the hiring of Flood as CEDC director. Flood has since been at the forefront of promoting and securing grant funding, tax incentives, and other benefits for Ginsberg’s Foods.

The conflict of interest issues raised by Baer, which the Executive Committee and its attorney have declined to address, clearly do not appear to come as surprise to CEDC members. The minutes of its October 2013 meeting reported that:

“Mr. Flood stated he had to hire a consultant to write the expedited application in order to submit it on time to have the [Ginsberg] project reviewed... Ms. Bartolotta asked it to be clarified in the formal meeting minutes that David Ginsberg of Ginsberg’s Foods had resigned in the beginning of the month.”

The May 2014 minutes likewise record Crawford as actively promoting the hiring of Behan by CEDC to assist Ginsberg’s, which originally was going to carry the cost of public relations itself. Crawford explicitly tied the image of the Board and Ginsberg’s together:

“Mr. Crawford stated that he and Mr. Bohnsack had met with Ginsbergs at the beginning of their project to encourage them to hire a public relations firm [to] head off any issues. He stated Ginsbergs had stated they would do their public relations in house. Mr. Crawford stated he was now encouraging CEDC to hire a public relations firm to get CEDC’s mission out to the public... He stated this should include the message about Ginsberg’s. ... Several board members cautioned against using the public relations company for only Ginsberg’s, noting it should be iused for the advancement of CEDC. Mr. Crawford asked for a motion to obtain a proposal from Behan Communications not to exceed $10,000.

The May minutes then state that “Mr. Fingar made the motion, which was seconded by Colinn Stair and passed unanimously.” No absentions were noted in the minutes, by either Crawford or anyone else.

Subsequent minutes show that staff of CEDC went ahead and signed a contract with Behan before the Board ever saw a proposal. By July, Crawford was backtracking on his original reason for hiring Behand, now claiming in that month’s minutes that “the firm had been hired to do general public relations and not specifically for Ginsberg’s.”

(NOTE: The minutes quoted above were all unanimously approved by the full Board, which includes Crawford et al. assuming they were in attendance.)